On The Right: Reasons For Leaving

It's one of those days, when you'd rather be out enjoying
the Auckland sun listening to 'Take No Prisonerz' on CD than
being stuck behind a computer. But stuck here I am, at
least for a couple more weeks. You see, I have decided that
December 19 will be my last column. After that, I will be
taking a break from the political scene.

For the last
eight years, I have been not too much different from the
trainspotters who stand around in their yellow anoraks and
record serial numbers all day. Anyone who has even barely
known me in that time rightly labels me as a total political
freak, in that I just know too much for my - and
particularly their - own good. So I'm going to take a break
for a year or so and find myself another interest or two,
like fox hunting.

Now I've got that out of the way, I can
concentrate on what I really want to talk about. Which I
can pretty much sum up in two words: Jordan Carter. A
couple of weeks ago he chose to reply to my last column,
'Confessions of a Misspent Youth'. (I don't come up with
these names people.) I was delighted that he did, because
it demonstrated my point beautifully. My column stated that
one of the left wing's most negative traits is their habit
of blindly attacking any good idea that might also benefit
higher income earners in any way, and of attacking these
people as if they were their deadly enemies. In addition,
everyone on the right seem to be horribly, terribly,
tragically, horrifically, unspeakably, horrendously,
atrociously, appallingly, inexcusably, unforgivably and
deplorably evil.

Carter's response? See for yourself:
'...the people who give ACT its public face - a nasty,
far right group of rabble rousers who are out to protect
their own pockets and do not give adamn about anyone or
anything other than themselves.'We didn't need to buy
someone else's model and strap it on to our country. It
should have been obvious it wouldn't work, and it's spurious
for people like Mike to ever think that it can.
'...people like Mike who believe in the future of this
place and our peoples should come back to Labour. If they
don't, they simply exhibit an inability to understand what's
going on.'

I think that proves my point. I have learnt
quite a bit during my Auckland trip. I learnt that you can
buy twelve toothbrushes for $3.95 in Otahuhu. I also
discovered that there are approximately 260,000 McDonalds
outlets in the Auckland region. But above all, I have had
my belief in what I wrote last time reinforced, particularly
in my Otahuhu excursion. Poor people need the opposite of
what Labour and the Alliance has prescribed for them. Tax
cuts can achieve a lot more than a benefit increase, and a
tax hike has not, and will not, have any positive effect on
anyone.

Another thing I have had reinforced this week is
my firm belief in Voluntary Student Membership. I have been
able to spend a lot of time on the Auckland University
campus as of late and I'm very impressed. There were a lot
of doomsayers on the left who argued that VSM was going to
be the death knell for Auckland. The Union is looking in
very good shape from what I have observed. It's lively,
non-members are not being excluded, and it's not too
expensive either. I had lunch there, and the food made
Otago's food court look like something Oliver Twist had to
deal with.

And in case you're out there thinking 'hey
this guy's an outsider, he doesn't know jack about
Auckland', well then we should look at the Voluntary
Referendum results from last month: with a 34 percent
turnout, voluntary won a 1731 majority over compulsory.
Compare this with the narrow 108 vote victory just over a
year ago, and you can see the idea of freedom of association
has really taken off - much to the chagrin of our left-wing
student leaders.

It really makes me wonder why I'm still
at Otago. Then I remember that the train station is really
close to the city, and there are still so many serial
numbers left to record...

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